Sheila of Johto, an OT fic
by Black Griffin1
Summary: PG13 for language, and possible topics later in the fic
1. Opening Act

I started this story a long time ago. I have made some changes to this chapter, and I am currently working on the second. This chapter is still a bit rough...I will probably change it a bit more before the final version. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. 

A/N: Ash and Misty have gotten engaged, and are both in their early 30's. Misty adopted Sheila when she was 9, and has raised her as her own, even though she was only 25 at the time.

PS. I own my characters and ideas etc, but sadly not pokemon, ash, misty, or anything else that I might steal from the show or game. Also, I'm a big fan of male/male relationships, which might show up here. Don't worry though, I don't write porn. Oh, and feel free to review as well. Flames are appreciated too, but don't be stupid about it, use tact and not just tell me that my story sucks. I want to know why it sucks.

Pss. is telepathy, _this is internal thoughts_  
Chapter 1-Decisions, or The Beginning

A young girl of 15 sat on the edge of a cliff overhanging the ocean at dusk. She is about 5'6, has shoulder length blonde hair that flows freely behind her in the wind. Her deep blue eyes stared intently below, transfixed by the rare show going on. To most, it was insignificant, just the hatching of a starmie egg into a staryu. But to her, it was a revelation.

Sheila Waterflower watched in amazement as her mother's two oldest and most trusted allies, companions, and friends caressed and cared for the newborn. A beautiful blue starmie, and its equally beautiful, though not quite as impressive mate, a staryu were flashing their jewels in unison at the newborn staryu. This very rare event has been witnessed before, and is often explained as the starfish pokemon's way of greeting. Either way, it was an awe inspiring scene, as are all births. From this point on, Sheila knew that she was finally going to do what her parents and friends had been passively urging her to do. Pokemon training.

The newborn staryu started to flash its jewel back to its parents in response. Then the two battle-hardened starfish sunk back into the ocean, making the two mile trip up the coast to the Ketchum/Waterflower residence. The two obviously live there with Misty, and her fiancée Ash Ketchum. And a LOT of pokemon. Most of which are tauros.

Sheila knew from the first full view of this baby pokemon that it was special, and that it was destined to be her first companion on a long journey. It wasn't the fact that it was an exceptionally beautiful deep blue, or that the jewel was a dark emerald instead of the normal ruby. It was most likely to be the telepathic call that Sheila was receiving. Rather, to be more precise, the cry for help. Sheila had read about shiny pokemon, and her parents even own a few. It was rumored that shiny are more powerful than normal colored ones. But she knew better. She knew that any pokemon has the potential to be extremely powerful with the right training and care.

Snapping out of her pensive mood, Sheila stripped off her light blue tee and jeans revealing her thin but still athletic body (she is a swimmer, after all), and leapt down in a dive to the ocean below. The staryu flashed its jewel in response to the splash that resulted from the less than stellar dive (which was more of a belly-flop). This was the most dangerous time for the baby, and Sheila was going to be damned if she wasn't going to rescue the hand-sized water pokemon and take it home. She did a quick breast stroke to the ledge that the staryu was perched upon and was promptly shot in the face with a muddy bubble. To which the little staryu began to flash its jewel in its version of a laugh.

_Why that little!_

Sheila knocked the staryu off its perch on the ledge with a splash from her hand. The staryu surfaced almost immediately and spat another bubble attack back at Sheila. Soon a riot of bubbles and splashes arose. After about a half an hour of playing around, Sheila spoke to the staryu for the first time.

"Well little staryu, I think that I'm finally going to start training pokemon, and I would love for you to be my first."

The emerald glowed faintly, and Sheila received a telepathic answer. It wasn't so much of a word, but more of a feeling of "yes". And so the deep blue starfish jetted over to Sheila and rested on her right shoulder even as she started the rock climb back up to his clothes. An hour later and Sheila arrived to a 'surprise' empty house.

Her parents were both busy people. Her mom retired from her job as gym leader, but started up a beginner's training hall, specializing in water pokemon. Her father, once a Champion in his own right, now raised and cared for his herd of tauros, miltank, and the few loyal pokemon that stayed behind from his training days.

"Well little staryu, I think that it is time that I give you a name."

A flicker of the emerald was the only response.

"Well, since you have an emerald instead of a ruby, how about that as your name?"

Again, an emerald flicker

"All right then, I'll call you Emerald."

Flicker

"Awesome! I have my first pokemon."

Flicker

"We're gonna be the best team ever, Emerald. Just you wait; we'll become the very best!" Sheila screamed hysterically as she did a 360 and held out the peace sign.

Flicker

Flicker

"You're right Emerald; it's stupid the way dad always posed for the cameras and talked to the pokeballs as if they would work better if he encouraged them."

Flicker...Flicker Flicker

"Hey Emerald, lets go sleep on the beach tonight. It's a beautiful night and I wouldn't want to waste it inside. And we have to get used to being outside if we are going to be on a journey."

Flicker

Sheila picked up Emerald and jogged outside to a campsite on the beach that had obviously been in use for a long time. It was her favorite spot, just next to the ocean with a warm breeze coming in from the warmer waters to the northeast. She came here to think and usually sleep when her parents weren't home, which was most of the time. Well, to say that they are her parents isn't true. Misty found Sheila standing with a tear-streaked face on the beach after a particularly bad hurricane, and immediately adopted her after her parents were found to be dead from said storm. However she was only 9 at the time, and was raised by Ash and Misty whom she thinks of as her parents despite not being blood related.

Sheila woke up to two starfish glowing near him, seemingly communicating with Emerald. After wiping the last bits of sleepiness from her eyes, she realized that they were her mom's pokemon, and also the parents of Emerald.

"Hey guys, what are you doing here?"

Flicker... Flicker... Flicker... The starfish continued without pause, and soon Emerald began faintly glowing in response to its parents.

Take care of our daughter. She has a warrior's spirit and will serve you well. We will not be able to give her what you can, and that is why we left her for you. The starmie telepathically sent.

"I promise. I will protect her and guide her as best as I can." Sheila replied.

Thank you. The staryu sent. And with that, Sheila picked up Emerald and walked inside the house, followed by the two hovering starfish.

: The Next Morning:

"Hey mom, dad, I was thinking about starting my pokemon journey today" Sheila meekly explained.

"That's great Sheila! But what kind of pokemon do you want as a starter, I mean, you know that you can have your choice from our entire herd" Misty said.

"Well, you know your staryu and starmie... They ummm, had a baby... And I was thinking that... she could be my first pokemon." Sheila timidly suggested, for fear of hurting her adopted parent's feelings. A/N: I know that staryu/starmie doesn't have a gender, but since in the game they don't reproduce by themselves, I figured that I could have a little leeway in the story. Don't like it, sue me.

"That's great Sheila! I was wondering what happened to that egg of theirs." Misty exclaimed.

Sheila reached behind, and pulled Emerald off of her back (where she had been the whole time) and set her down in the middle of the trio of humans. She had apparently been napping, as her jewel was dim and started to brighten up only after some urging from Sheila.

"Come on Emmy, time to wake up sleepyhead."

The staryu gently unfolded herself, observed her surroundings, and shot everyone in the face with a bubble attack. Sheila was hit with a particularly strong bubble, and she fell backwards onto her rear, landing with an audible crunch.

"OWWW! That really fricken hurt Emerald!"

Her only response was Emerald's jewel flickering in her version of a laugh, which only irritated Sheila even more.

"Emerald, that wasn't very nice" Misty scolded "you should always treat your family with respect."

To which the staryu hunched over anime-style in remorse. Sheila, feeling bad for getting angry so quickly, walked over and picked Emerald up. She started stroking in circles around the jewel, just like she used to with starmie and staryu, and she immediately forgot about being sad. After a few moments Emerald let out a sweet little song (which consisted of star-ar- yu, yu-star, yu, and other variations of her species name) in contentment.

"I'm sorry Emmy... I didn't mean to get so upset."

"Staryu, star, yu, yu staryu" Emerald explained.

"Umm, I have no idea what you just said. But lets promise to not fight from now on, ok?"

"Staryu!" Emerald agreed with a shake of her top appendage.

"Ok Sheila, if you are serious about going on this journey there are a few things that you're going to need." Ash stated as he went down into the mini-lab underneath the Ketchum/Waterflower house. He came back about ten minutes later with a sturdy dark brown backpack, some blue and green pokeballs, and the one item that Sheila had been eyeing for a long time, Misty's fishing pole. (For all intents and purposes for this story, it is a good rod).

"Thanks dad!" Sheila yelped as he went looking through all of his new things.

"Just remember to treat your pokemon with love and respect. They aren't your slaves, they are your partners." Misty told Sheila.

"Thanks mom, but I don't think that that will be a problem."

"Ok, just making sure" Misty replied with a wink.

One hour later

Sheila finished packing, put on a khaki hiking skirt and a plain white tee, and prepared to walk out the door. After saying a quick goodbye to her parents, she donned her dark brown backpack, grabbed Emerald off of the table and put her on her right shoulder, and walked out to the beginning of a long journey.

Sheila left the Ketchum/Waterflower residence more than three hours ago, and finally Olivine City's famous lighthouse tower appeared in the horizon.

"We're almost there Em" Sheila informed the sleeping pokemon perched on her shoulder. But as she got closer to the seaside town, Sheila started to think about the upcoming gym battle that was sure to happen.

_I'm positive that mom said this gym specializes in steel types... And that the gym leader is a particularly strong one, so I'm gonna need more than one pokemon. I'm gonna need at least 2, and Emerald needs to get some experience before she fights in a gym match. So that means I should probably catch 2 more at a higher level, and a type advantage would be good too... Maybe a fire type..._

As she walked into the city limits, Sheila heard a wailing, ear-piercing, heart-breaking cry. The sounds of a pokemon battle could be heard as Sheila neared the noise (which was actually coming from the beach on the lake to the east of Olivine). Sheila ran to the water's edge, released Emerald, and dove in. She swam as fast as she could go, which was insanely fast for a human as she had been on the high school swim team. As she got even closer, she saw the source of the noise. A marowak was fiercely protecting her cubone child from an odd mix of bird pokemon, including hoot hoots, pidgey, pidgeotto, a spearow, a fearow, and a noctowl. The mother was fighting tooth, nail, and club for her and her cubone, but she was completely outnumbered.

Sheila took in the situation, and quickly came to the conclusion that she would soon lose, and consequently so would the cubone if she didn't help. It was also painfully obvious that the marowak was at a much higher level than the bird pokemon, but being a ground type put her at a significant disadvantage.

"Emerald, I need you to help me save the cubone and marowak!" Sheila yelled. "Just stay in the water and shoot down the weaker birds first. Leave the evolved ones for the marowak to deal with."

Emerald flashed her jewel once, which got the attention of two pidgeys, three hoot hoots, and the sole spearow. The birds dived down in hopes of getting a peck attack off, but there was still a lot of distance between them and Emerald was quicker on the draw. A torrent of bubbles spat out of her top appendage straight at the small flock of birds, dispersing in a wide radius, thus hitting all of them.

_That's good, now they won't be quite so fast. Now if there was only a way to avoid those incoming attacks_. "Emerald, shoot off another bubble attack, and dive underwater when they get close."

Emerald once again did as she was told and shot off another helping of bubbles at the birds, and actually managed to knock out a hoot hoot. The little bird fell like a rock. Or rather would have if the other birds hadn't have been directly below it. The unconscious bird fell right onto one of the pidgeys which in turn knocked the pidgey off balance and right into another hoot hoot. The net result was that the pidgeys and hoot hoots got into a brawl of their own and completely ignored Emerald and Sheila. In the meantime Emerald dove underwater just as the spearow was about to peck her.

The marowak was busy dealing with the fearow and noctowl, and she seemed to be losing the battle. The little cubone that was cowering behind her mother finally jumped into action when a pidgeotto got a quick attack right on the marowak's back, causing her to yelp in pain. The cubone jumped up into action and headbutted the pidgeotto to the ground. The bird squawked in confusion, and soon in pain when the cubone whacked the bird upside the head with his club, proving that ground moves weren't totally useless against flying pokemon as the bird passed out.

_Even with the cubone in the battle, we are still losing... I have to do something! But what!_ Just then she felt something wrap around her left foot. And then extreme pain.

The chinchou that just shocked Sheila surfaced with a maniacal look on its face. It then turned its attention to the smaller birds flying around and proceeded to thunderwave them one by one; paralyzing them and making the little birds drop into the water with the grace of a brick on heroin.

Emerald finally finished off her foe (the spearow) with a tackle attack followed up by a water gun to the bird's face. Although badly injured, she floated in the water proud of her first victory. Sheila recalled her with a grin on her face. It was her first battle ever, and she defeated a higher level pokemon all by herself. It was then that Sheila turned her attention back to the marowak. She glowed with a red energy for a split second before she flew into a fury of bone rushes, and actually managed to hit both the noctowl and fearow with it.

It was all for naught, however, as the fearow used drill peck on the marowak's skull helmet, and left a huge gash where the bone had protected the flesh underneath. Blood started flowing freely from the wound, but she fought on. With a final headbutt, she hurt the fearow enough to make it rethink its attack.

With the fearow leaving, the other birds retreated as well. The bigger birds picked up the smaller unconscious birds and they flew off as a flock of beaten pokemon. The marowak's steps faltered when she tried to move to her child, and she collapsed.

Thinking quickly, Sheila threw a green and blue pokeball at the marowak, and caught her without a struggle.

"Cubone BONE!"

"You had better come with me too, little one, at least to the pokemon center."

With that, Sheila picked up the cubone and ferried it across the lake. Soon she showed up in the pokemon center, water still flowing freely down her body, and ran to the desk.

"Nurse Joy!" pant... wheeze...pant "Marowak!" Wheeze...cough cough...pant "Birds!"

"Blissey! Prepare the operating room! Young lady, bring that marowak over here." Nurse Joy took charge as Sheila handed the pokeball to the nurse. She then blew a whistle that was dangling around her neck. A veritable army of chanseys marched out of nowhere to prepare the emergency room.

five hours later

Nurse Joy walked into the room, disheveled, but with a huge grin on her face. "That marowak of yours was pretty lucky." Joy started, "the drill peck went through the poor dear's skull helmet, but didn't go much farther than that. Now, there were some other complications that will give her a few more problems though..."

"Oh no, like what!" Sheila cried.

"Well her bone club DID get chipped... and that stubbed toe isn't gonna help much either."

Sheila almost fell over anime style, but since I think it's really stupid the way that happens in the show and REALLY stupid when people mimic it in their fanfics, Sheila did not fall over anime style. She merely let out a big breathe of air and muttered thank God.

"So when do you think she will be ready to come with me on my journey, Nurse Joy?"

"I don't think that is a very good idea. You see, that marowak is the mate of a particularly fierce Kangaskhan. One who can get very protective, if you know what I mean... And besides, those two have kept the other wild pokemon in line, well for the most part. That is why the birds probably attacked. Didn't like to be told what to do."

"Oh, well could you tell me when marowak will be better?"

"Well kid, she's fine no—"Joy was cut off as Sheila ran past Joy, grabbed marowak's pokeball off the counter, and into the pokemon's room...and recalled her.

With a quick thanks Nurse Joy, Sheila ran out of the building carrying her new prize. She ran straight to the gym to challenge Jasmine, the Princess of Steel.

Panting and wheezing, Sheila arrived at the gym, pokeball in hand.

"I want a match!" she screamed...perhaps a little too enthusiastically.

Jasmine came running down the ramp of the battle arena, obviously excited for a match as well. Her pigtails swished behind her small frame, almost bouncing with anticipation.

"Yay! I haven't had a match in a whole week!" Jasmine exclaimed. Jasmine then looked at Sheila's neigh empty pokeball belt "Is this your first gym match?"

Sheila nodded.

"Ok then, we will use standard rules which are as follows: 1) Leaving the battle arena is immediate disqualification. 2) Up to three pokemon can be used. 3) Once a pokemon is out it cannot be recalled unless the opponent's pokemon is disabled or is disabled itself, otherwise it will count against your score." Jasmine explained "It's really not that hard to follow. Got it?"

Sheila nodded once more, and grabbed her first pokemon to use. _I hope that Marowak will be able to take all three of her pokemon..._ Sheila looked at her pokeball belt. _Emerald won't be much use here because she's still at level 9, and I don't have a third pokemon yet... Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to start here._

Jasmine picked a pokeball off her belt, whispered something to it and kissed it for luck, then tossed it into the rocky arena. Sheila likewise threw her pokeball containing marowak into the arena, and with a red flash both pokemon materialized, revealing a high level marowak and a slightly lower level magnemite.

"All right M-32, lets starts things off with a boom!" Jasmine called. With that the magnemite charged both ends with opposing charges until the electricity jumped between. After a second the air around magnemite seemed to explode in a rush forward, towards Marowak.

Marowak didn't just stand idle however. She jumped into action and sprinted towards M-32, a little too slow though, because the sonic boom hit first. Unfazed, marowak knocked M-32 into the ground with a downward swipe of her bone club, where the magnemite stayed for good. Sheila stood awestruck by the speed of the battle that just took place, but soon cheered for marowak. Even as Jasmine started talking.

"Round one goes to you, challenger" Jasmine called. "But let's see if you can handle M-25." With that Jasmine picked up another ball and soon another, slightly larger magnemite came out.

"Come on marowak, you can take that bucket of bolts!" Sheila cheered.

Not waiting for orders, M-25 floated speedily at marowak in a tackle attack. With the wind knocked out of her, marowak heaved her club like a boomerang at the magnemite. M-25 was knocked back a few feet by the first impact and then knocked forward by the second, again passing out after one move.

"Hmmm, I guess its time for Bubbles." Jasmine said as she reached for the ultraball dangling around her necklace. "Come on Bubbles, you are my last chance."

_Bubbles... What kind of pokemon could Bubbles be? I thought she specializes in steel pokemon, not water._

Bubbles turned out to be a gigantic steelix. Oh... This looks bad. Marowak gritted her teeth and took a fighting stance. This would be an all out battle.

"Ok Bubbles, show that marowak we mean business! Steel tail!" Bubbles lashed out its tail at marowak, as marowak just seemed to wait for it._ I know that move.. She's using focus energy._ Steelix landed a hefty blow upon marowak's skull helmet, and just as it was about to withdraw its tail, marowak jumped into action. She slammed down on the tail with her club, and proceeded to dance circles around Bubbles in a flashy bone rush attack. This wasn't to last long, however.

"Ok Bubbles, wrap that pesky thing up, and squeeze it till it drops." With that steelix curled around marowak in a brilliant display of speed and grace for such a big pokemon and continued to squeeze the daylights out of marowak. Struggle as she might, marowak could not break free from the iron grip of Bubbles the steelix. With one final heave, marowak threw her club as hard as she could at Bubbles... and missed. Half a second later marowak passed out from the vicious attack.

_Shoot, I was hoping marowak could take care of that snake. I just hope Emerald can finish it off._ "Return marowak. And let's finish this Emmy." Sheila prayed. Marowak was recalled with a flash of light, and after another flash Emerald appeared, ready to do some business. Emerald stood up on two appendages in a battle stance and flashed her jewel. _Its down to you Emerald, I know you can do it!_ Emerald then bolted upright and jumped to her left for no apparent reason.

The huge steelix mimicked her move to his right, and for a couple seconds the two pokemon just stared each other down. And then the real reason Emerald jumped around became painfully apparent to the steelix. Marowak's bonemerang came flying right into the back of his head, making the great snake flinch and fall to the ground in pain.

"Finish it Emerald, water gun." Sheila called. The starfish did as she was told, and the giant steelix Bubbles passed out in pain. Mostly pain caused by a certain club lodged in the back of his head.

"Good job, not many novice trainers can win their first badge from this gym. Here is your badge, winnings, this gym's official Steel Tail TM, and I want you to have something special. Come with me." Jasmine walked to the room behind the battle arena, and Sheila followed.

"This is where I raise my steel pokemon. Bubbles and Mrs. Iron my magneton just had triplets, and I was hoping you would take one of them. You see, every five seasons, each gym leader from every league raises a set of three pokemon from their gym from scratch. This is one of those seasons. However, my team is already complete, two of the triplets are a steelix and magnemite. The third is a magnemite too, but I already have a skarmory in mind. So will you please take care of M-40 for me? She would really benefit from a good trainer like you."

"Yeah! A magnemite would be a great addition to my team. Thank you!" Sheila said, visibly bouncing with joy for getting a tough pokemon for free.

Sheila walked a good distance from the pokemon center after healing her three pokemon, and was nearly to the edge of the forest. That meant she was almost at the trail that would take her to Ecruteak city. It wouldn't be long now. That is if marowak hadn't managed to get out of her ball.

"Marowak. Marowak marowak!" marowak said, while pointing to the forest. In the distance a Kangaskhan could be seen waiving its arms.

"Oh... I understand, that's your mate isn't it..." Sheila whispered to herself. After some internal debating she continued, "Well I am going to miss you even if you weren't on my team for very long. Go and have a happy life." Sheila said teary eyed, and giving her best puppy dog eyes.

So marowak left the ranks of Sheila's pokemon team, and ran to her mate. She lived a long and very happy life ruling the forest between Ecruteak and Olivine with Kangaskhan. Her child however, was a different story.

As Sheila sat on the beach near the forest, she heard the sounds of a pokemon fight. _It's probably a trainer battle, I wanna watch._ Sheila ran to where the noise was coming from, and the two pokemon could be seen. The one in the water was easily recognized as the maniac chinchou that had helped/shocked Sheila before. The combatant on the beach was also a familiar face. It was the cubone, the son of Marowak and Kangaskhan. The two seemed to be in a vicious but somehow friendly fight. The cubone would club the chinchou, and then the chinchou would bubble the cubone. It almost looked like they were taking turns and not in a real fight. Either way, Sheila resolved that she would catch both of them.

She readied four pokeballs, two of which were empty. After tossing Emerald and M-40 onto the beach she immediately called out commands.

"Ok Emerald, lets give that cubone a nice bath. Water Gun! And M-40 give that chinchou a tackle." Her pokemon complied, and both floated off to their targets. Cubone was knocked to the ground with the power of the water gun from Emerald, but after shaking himself off, he got back up ready for more.

Chinchou wasn't fairing as well however. It was significantly weakened by cubone's attacks, and doing minimal amounts of damage to an electric steel type didn't help it win any fights. As a result M-40 just kept tackling the chinchou, with the chinchou doing almost negligible damage with bubbles (it had given up on flail as it wasn't doing any damage). Pretty soon the chinchou was knocked out, and Sheila threw a green and blue pokeball at it. The white light immediately went up to confirm the capture.

Meanwhile, cubone was giving Emerald quite a hard time. Even though she had a type advantage, the level advantage definitely went to the cubone, as he head butted the staryu for the second time. Emerald replied with a wicked water gun to the cubone's face. The cubone fell to his knees, and leered at Emerald.

"Come on Emmy, one more tackle and you have it!" Sheila yelled.

One more tackle indeed was all it took as the cubone fell down, finally defeated. Sheila once again tossed a green and blue pokeball which shook twice, and clicked white.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Sheila ran to the pokeballs, cubone's first, and proceeded to pick them up. As she did, two vaguely humanoid shadows in the forest retreated back to the depths from whence they came. Wishing a silent farewell and good luck to their child, the Marowak and Kangaskhan started their daily rounds of the forest.

Sheila had been trudging north for over three days. She battled every wild pokemon she could, strengthening her favorite pokemon. One, however, was not on Sheila's good side.

"Dammit chinchou!" Sheila cried, "Can't you do anything right!"

The psychotic chinchou was yet again shocking Sheila with its signature thunder wave instead of attacking the wild meowth. The meowth eventually got bored of the show and wandered away, leaving Sheila to recall her pokemon in anger.

"You STUPID pokemon! If you don't start doing what I say, then... then... I'll leave you at the next pond!" Sheila yelled. Even though the chinchou couldn't hear her in its pokeball.

The crazed chinchou never obeyed her. In fact, he usually attacked her instead of the opponent pokemon. Sheila knew that it wasn't because he didn't respect her as a trainer, that much was clear. When most pokemon don't obey, it is because the pokemon is at a higher level than the current badge level of the trainer. But the chinchou was only at level 15, and the badge Sheila won from Jasmine is definitely high enough for the pokemon to obey her. So Sheila had no idea how to fix the problem, and get the chinchou to trust her enough to obey her. Even the other pokemon had trouble bonding with the insane chinchou.

M-40 had an obvious crush on the other electric pokemon, but she was constantly smacked, shocked, or dazed by a supersonic blast every time she tried to get close. It got so bad that Sheila had to keep one in its pokeball if the other was out. Emerald stayed away from the water/electric pokemon as much as possible, preferring instead the company of the cubone, now dubbed Ranger.

True to his namesake, Ranger was an excellent tracker. He was the one responsible for the impressive number of wild pokemon battles Sheila had, reading every broken stem and paw print without difficulty. He was also the one that kept the small group out of the rampaging tauros herd's way.

It was on the grasslands during the trip to Ecruteak city. Sheila was fighting (and losing) with chinchou again, and Ranger was playing with Emerald and M-40 in a unique game of tag. The pokemon would "tag" one another with their long ranged attacks. Once tagged, the pokemon would stand still for 10 seconds, long enough for the others to escape. So the game was similar to laser tag.

Ranger immediately perked its ears up and looked around in panic. He was then blasted to the ground by a jet of water, courtesy of Emerald. After getting up, he yelled out a warning "Cubone bone!" and pointed to the west.

Sheila instantly tried to recall the pesky chinchou, but it evaded the beam. Finding no alternative, she physically picked up the chinchou, ignoring the electricity coursing through her and ran towards her other pokemon; and to the growing thunder of hooves upon the ground.

When she was finally within range, Sheila recalled M-40, Ranger, and Emerald. But by that time the source of the rumbling could be seen, a relatively small herd of tauros and miltank descended upon the hapless teen and her chinchou. As dozens of the herd passed her by, the little chinchou panicked, and began to shock Sheila with all its might in fear.

Unable to withstand the electrical bombardment combined with the random head butts, horn attacks, and stomps from the herd, she dropped the chinchou and ran as fast as her 5'6" frame could carry her. She could hear squeals of pain and protest growing fainter as she ran. The herd didn't follow her, thus Sheila decided to stop running. The sight behind her was gruesome.

The herd had surrounded the little chinchou, taunting it from safe distance. The chinchou didn't take lightly to being in such a dangerous situation, and he thunder waved or water gunned anything that strayed within his range. Flashes of electricity and torrents of water spewed out of the little fish in an amazing attempt to save its own life. Sheila looked on with horror as two tauros readied horn attacks in a pincer formation, and charged.

The next few seconds were a complete blur. The chinchou shot off jet after jet of water at the tauros but nothing would stop them. The tauros were almost on top of the chinchou when it curled up in a ball in a mock defense curl: a desperate attempt to survive the oncoming collision. The poor chinchou was speared right through on both sides.

Rather, it would have had Sheila not stepped in. Emerald materialized perpendicular to one tauros, and managed to water gun it off balance enough to stumble and fall. Ranger put his bone club to good use, as well as M-40 when he batted the metal pokemon like a baseball right into the other tauros' face, knocking both the steer and M-40 out. Out of danger for the moment, the chinchou took it upon itself to lasso the head of the stumbling tauros with his tentacles. The chinchou then hefted itself onto the back of the bull. The all too recognizable grin splayed across his face as the little chinchou sent an unbelievable amount of electricity through the lower level tauros, which caused the bull to jump up in pain. Chinchou suddenly lost its grin and looked directly at Sheila and lowered the front of its body in its version of a nod. Sheila locked eyes with the chinchou, and for a moment, they seemed to understand each other. After a few seconds of seemingly blank staring, the chinchou let out a fierce battle cry and whipped the tauros it was riding. The entire herd seemed to recognize the chinchou's authority and stopped all movement completely. With another cry of "chin-CHOU", the herd ran off to the east and Sheila realized that she had just lost another pokemon.


	2. A Lengendary Meeting?

Chapter 2 - A Legendary Meeting? 

Sheila made the long trek to Ecruteak city, it took her just under 2 weeks. Very few pokemon came near her after the tauros incident. Not that Sheila could blame them; she had been obviously upset ever since her second pokemon abandoned her. Needless to say, losing two pokemon in the first week of her trainer's career had gotten Sheila more than a bit down. Not even the random trainer that passed her by would challenge her.

Something profound in her persona had changed, and not for the better. It was as if every living creature could sense the dark aura around her and stepped out of the way accordingly. It wasn't just the fact that two of her pokemon had decided to leave her.

The dream was shattered. You know the one; start off with one abnormally strong pokemon, raise it, make a few friends, beat the gyms, become league champion. 'Gotta Catch Em All' and whatnot. That was the true issue Sheila was having difficulty with; the fact that the life of a trainer isn't all glamour and fun.

Or easy.

Sheila found herself wandering around town, steering clear of the gym and all trainers. Now wasn't the time to battle, it was time to reflect. Eventually Sheila made it to a giant tower; old and rusted, but magnificent nonetheless. A rather creepy looking old man stood just outside the entrance.

Garbed in a tattered brown cloak and robes, he looked like a druid from a cheesy witchcraft flick, and not the town elder. His back was arched with age, but he still stood an impressive six feet. Upon sighting Sheila he pulled his cloak hood back and closed the gap to greet her.

"Good morning to you, young lass" he cheerfully exclaimed.

"Hi" was her only response. She really didn't feel like talking.

"Is that all you can say to an old man with nobody to keep him company? Aye lass, you must be in a foul temperament if that is the case" the old man declared. "You must be here to search for the legendary dogs. All trainers that come this way try their luck to catch one of the legendary trio."

"No. I'm not here to chase after some fairy tale. I'm here to get the gym badge, and then I'll be on my way out of here."

"Hehehe... Determined young lass, aren't ya?" the old man remarked. "I guess that means you won't be needing this" he said as he pulled out a purple pokeball.

"What kind of ball is that? I've never seen anything like it before" Sheila asked, even while examining the ball. It was a deep royal purple with gold trimming, and the traditional black outline of a circle at the opening was instead a gold lion-esque figure on its hind paws seemingly clawing at an unseen enemy, much like the banners of feudal England.

"That my dear is a pokeball" the man replied.

Sheila pondered that statement for a moment, furrowing her brow in confusion. The man took note of this, but did not say anything.

"What makes this pokeball so special?" she asked.

"Hohoho... Lassy I didn't say it was special. You just assumed it because it looks that way" the old man scolded, "but this ball will change your life. That I can guarantee..." and with that the old man began strolling down the path back to the center of Ecruteak. As the man distanced himself from Sheila, a fog that seemingly came from nowhere thickened.

_Well that was weird._

She nonchalantly dropped the ball in her pants pocket and continued her previous wandering.

Sheila found herself strangely drawn to the dilapidated tower. It had obviously seen better days, but there was still something quite remarkable about the structure.

As she approached the tower, it became increasingly noticeable that there was once a great battle fought on the ancient grounds. Though for the most part worn away, scorch marks were still visible, most likely from a high powered fire or electric attack. Every now and then Sheila could make out the faint outlines of claw marks. GIANT claw marks.

They were fresh.

She ran up to the closest pair of claw marks, which happened to be on a wall just inside of the hulk of the tower. Paw prints the same size of the claw marks on the wall littered the area. Sheila followed them around a long winding path through the burned out building, completely losing track of time.

She lost the tracks after an abrupt corner, and failed to notice any signs of the large pokemon's path.

"Damn..."

"Ranger, come on out and help me track this thing" Sheila said out loud to nobody in particular. She tossed the pokeball containing the cubone and Ranger materialized as expected. After assessing the situation for a couple minutes, Ranger squawked in glee.

He had found the tracks had disappeared just as Sheila had; but what she had failed to notice was the soft dirt surrounding the last set of paw prints. To any experienced hunter or tracker, this would be a sure sign of a critter tunneling down and covering its tracks.

Unfortunately Sheila was not an experienced tracker. After looking around in frustration for a couple minutes, Sheila just sat down and told Ranger that she had no idea what he was trying to say. Ranger simply sighed in disappointment and then began to dig around the last paw prints, right in the soft dirt. It didn't take much longer for Sheila to figure out what was going on.

After what seemed like an eternity of digging, Sheila and Ranger managed to reach the end of the soft dirt. This end turned out to be the beginning of a cavern. Low slung and lined with stalactites, the ceiling loomed ominously in the shadows that come with being underground. Sheila hopped down the hole and dropped the six feet to the cavern floor. The elongated forms of the stalactites hung mere inches above Sheila's head, and caused her to crawl on her hands and knees in some spots.

The paw prints resumed on the ground in front of her, so Sheila and Ranger followed them with zeal. They followed the tracks deeper into the cavern, the light fading into the increasing height of the ceiling with every step. Sheila could only hear the faint pitter-patter of her own feet (Ranger moved a bit more silently) but Ranger once again proved his tracking skills as his tiny ears slanted up.

He had heard a noise. His ears pricked to the back, indicating he sensed danger. Sheila missed this minute detail and plodded forward, oblivious to the imminent danger. The screeching and squawking soon became apparent to her, but by then it was too late.

It is difficult to see potential threats in the dark. The pitch black ambiance the cavern had taken on made it nigh impossible to see say, a hostile pokemon ten feet to the front. Sheila was looking forward but she didn't see the source of the noises. She told herself that it was just because it was dark in the cave.

Had she ever studied up on the habits of cave dwelling animals, she would have certainly known that not all pokemon stand on the ground. One such example is the zubat family. Zubats (and their evolutions) often perch on the ceiling of caves. They are also known to attack intruders en masse when disturbed. The bats not eight feet fluttering above Sheila and Ranger were no exception. They detected the human/cubone party upon their entry into the cavern, breaking their slumber. A rather large golbat sounded off the attack with an ear piercing screech. The first attack came in the form of a leech life attack by a zubat. It dived down at Sheila, intending to suck her life force from her until she was no more.

It is most fortunate for Sheila that Ranger saw this attack coming and drew it off with a leer attack. Dazed momentarily, the zubat altered its path towards the new challenger. The second attack came in the form of a supersonic blast behind the cubone. The attack left Ranger more than a little confused as he headbutted Sheila instead of the intended zubat.

Shelia grunted a loud "UMPGH" before being knocked to the ground by the cubone's attack.

"What are you DOING Ranger! We need to take care of the golbat first! Headbutt!" she cried.

Ranger snapped out of his confusion and did as asked. The golbat took the headbutt and quickly struck back with a wicked wing attack before Ranger even reached the ground. The cubone landed less than gracefully, tumbling backwards three times before skidding to a stop. The fight was quickly becoming serious.

"Argh... Ranger you gave a good try, but you just aren't equipped for this.." Sheila returned Ranger and pulled out M-40's pokeball. Two zubats tackled her to the ground before she could release the magnemite, causing her to drop the ball on the ground. The fall caused the pokeball to open anyway, releasing M-40 onto the battleground. Sheila stood a good chance now. At least that is what she thought.

"Lets rock it M-40, thundershock the closest zubat!" There was an audible thud as M-40 complied and the zubat fell to the ground, out of the fight. That's one down... There are just so many!

The female golbat was a good leader. Enraged at the KO of one in her pack, she flew in to cause the magnemite pain. She recalled defeating the last intruder to the cave, an abra: she had used a ferocious bite attack, one of her strongest moves. The queen golbat intended to do the same to M-40. The magnemite sensed this attack long before the golbat came within striking distance. She shot out a thundershock to ward the queen golbat off. The queen deftly whirled around the electric attack in a dazzling display of aerial maneuverability; she was no amateur in the art of battle. The clockwise spiral dive she was in brought her face to face with the accursed magnemite. Her open jaws clamped down upon the hapless bucket of bolts that was M-40 with enough force to drop a graveler dead in its tracks.

M-40 was not a graveler. She was a magnemite, half steel and half electric. If M-40 had not been a bucket of bolts then she surely would have fainted from the mighty dark attack. She merely took the initial damage, regained her senses, and sent a powerful blast of electricity through the offending queen bat. It was enough to convince the queen to arrest her attack. She took once more to the air, letting loose a sharp wind in the process. The air cutter buffeted M-40 around like a bit of paper in a tornado. The determined little magnemite floated above the grounded when the wind died down, but just barely. Being outnumbered had significant drawbacks, proven by a leech life performed by yet another zubat. This one was the pride and joy of the entire zubat pack. Instead of the normal purple/blue coloring, he had a dark green pigmentation, with bright red along the underside of his wings. More important than his colorings, he was the prince of the pack: the son of the queen.

When Sheila laid eyes upon this royal bat, she knew that she was in for a rough ride. M-40 once again filled the room with light from her electric bombardment, severely damaging the prince. The single attack was too much for the young prince. He plummeted to the ground, unconscious. The bats that could still fight converged upon the magnemite almost as one. In true swarm fashion, they bit, leeched, and swatted M-40 across the cave. She couldn't withstand anymore punishment and dropped to the ground. Sheila cursed and recalled her faithful pokemon.

Down to you Emerald, don't let me down! Sheila tossed her final pokemon out to defend herself from the swarm of bats. I shouldn't have come here so unprepared! I need to train a lot more.

Emerald materialized and quickly shot off a water gun at a zubat. The poor creature slammed mercilessly into the cavern wall, rendering it unconscious. The queen bat was furious at this point, losing another pack- mate to the two-legged intruder. The queen was smart; she wouldn't be the queen if she wasn't. The queen recognized the human as the leader of the intruding "pack". The zubat genome typically settled authoritative disputes between the leaders. It is for this reason that the queen hurtled at her best speed towards Sheila.

The giant golbat flew menacingly at Emerald's trainer. Emerald saw this threatening gesture and decided to protect her blonde-haired mistress. Sheila had been a compassionate trainer so far, and Emerald did not want to let her down. The shiny staryu summoned up all the strength she could muster and fired off a flurry of stars at the golbat. The golden stars flew into the queen, but they hardly fazed her. The attack continued.

In what seemed like an eternity but was only a few seconds in reality, the queen stretched her wings in front of her and prepared to decapitate the intruding human in a gruesome wing attack. She flew within a foot of Sheila and the girl fell onto her backside, spilling the contents of her pockets onto the ground.

"Confusion" a commanding voice boomed behind her. A purple aura surrounded the golbat queen and she slammed into the cavern wall. The queen was thoroughly trounced but not out of the battle yet. She slowly took to the skies. The espeon that threw the confusion attack launched a second of the same. The queen once again flew into the cavern wall. She didn't get back up.

With the defeat of their queen, the rest of the bat swarm retreated to the unseen depths of the caves. Sheila was still in shock from the near death experience, understandably, she stayed on the ground. A hand extended towards her face, an offering of assistance. She took the hand within her own and glanced up at the smiling face attached to it.

A young man of eighteen or so years hunched in front of her. He pulled her up to her feet and revealed his height of an impressive 6'2". He was darkly tanned and his short brown hair had a golden sheen to it, both signs of a lot of time in the sun. His apparel suggested prolonged exposure to the elements as well; he wore a simple pair of khaki shorts and a plain ribbed blue sleeveless shirt and a pair of ordinary brown shoes adorned his feet. He flashed a toothy smile and ran a hand through his nearly-buzzed hair.

"You ok there kid?" he asked.

Kid? He can't be more than two years older than me. How arrogant. "I'm fine" she replied with a glare while simultaneously returning Emerald to her pokeball. After a quick dusting of her pants, she started off towards the exit of the cave.

"I don't even get a 'thanks'? I just saved your butt back there!" the young man called after her. He happened to glance down and noticed a few items on the ground, including an ornate pokeball. This stuff must be that girl's. I wonder what is in this pokeball. He reached a lanky arm down and retrieved the gold-trimmed purple ball and released what was inside. He was more than shocked at what he found.

The pokeball was empty. Shrugging for his own benefit, he collected the various items on the ground and followed after the girl. He took three steps and felt a tug on his shirt. _What does that infernal ninetails want this time_...

"What is it Iris?"

The ninetails in question jaunted to the teen's right and yipped once. Now interested, the young man walked to where the ninetails was sitting patiently. Under a beautiful cream colored paw was a dark green wing. The ninetails lifted her paw to reveal the prince zubat just starting to recover from his fight earlier. Iris turned her head and licked the man's hand holding the purple pokeball and then looked down at the prince zubat.

"Ah... Iris you are such a clever girl" he cooed while scratching behind the fox's ears. He reached down and held the royal purple pokeball to the head of the zubat. The prince immediately turned to data in a flash of red. There was no struggle.

A/N: I was originally going to combine this chapter with the next, but I think that it came out to be much too long. I'm still working on chapter 3 anyways... I would really like some feedback on the story so far. I have a rough outline of where I'm going with this plot but what is interesting to me may not be to you, the reader. So hit that review button and tell me what you think.


	3. Reality, or Something Like it

A/N: I haven't been very diligent in writing this piece. I'm having a hard time balancing school, work, and friends, so I apologize for the long delays in chapter releases. I hope this next chapter works well. It is the first real character development for Sheila so far.

I would like to thank my two reviewers, liz and Ping Pong 1. Shallow as it may sound, I kind of need the reviews as motivation to keep writing. So, I just really appreciate the reviews.

I just realized that for some reason the italics and braces are all messed up previous chapters. That is so irritating.… The internal thoughts look really stupid and it is hard to differentiate between them and normal descriptions. I will try to go back and fix them sometime soon.

Without further ado…

Chapter 3 – Reality, or Something Like It

Sheila was pissed.

Understandably so, Ranger and M-40 were both knocked out and Emerald was in no condition to fight. More than that, her pride was hurt. _Marowak and chinchou both left me, and now I can't even fend off a few wild pokemon. I am so BAD at this. I'm probably the most pathetic trainer to ever grace this world._

This is obviously not true. Sheila cannot be the worst trainer to ever live; statistics alone can prove with relative certainty that there is or was a trainer that is worse than her. Human nature prohibits a true interpretation of reality however, thus the "reality" that one person lives in can be (and usually is) drastically different from "true" reality. Even so, it doesn't matter. The reality that Sheila perceives is that she is a bad trainer.

She found herself at the hole she and Ranger had dug. It was a nice one, as holes go; it was wide enough for a person to comfortably jump down and it had a smooth, rounded edge to it. That unfortunately doesn't lend to climbing back up with ease. Knees folded under her as Sheila crumpled to the floor and sulked.

_Why can't I get the hang of training? Mom and dad are always talking about their 'great adventures'. I bet they never screwed up like this._ Sheila let out a depressed sigh and picked herself off the ground. Casually brushing her faded jeans off for the third time in one day, she looked around the cramped cave for something, anything that would help her get out of the hole she literally dug herself.

Flicking a lock of blonde out of her face, she spotted a dim light from the area she just left. The faint pitter-patter of feet could be heard, increasing in volume as time went on. _Oh great, my knight in shining armor comes to claim his prize._ Sure enough, the same handsome young man who had saved her earlier was walking towards her holding a lantern. _What a jerk. He had better not expect anything from me._

"You dropped some stuff back there" he confidently explained. His outstretched hand contained a couple potions and antidotes, along with Sheila's trainer's license, but interestingly did not include the ornate pokeball with the shiny zubat prince. His face had a most charming smile plastered on it, instantly disarming Sheila of any hostility.

"Oh" was her only response. She was completely taken off guard by the sincere expression he held. She reached for his hand and reclaimed the items she had dropped during the fight with the zubats. His genial expression remained as he dug his hands deeply into his cargo short's pockets. _Why is he still grinning like an idiot?_

After a brief silence during which the two stared at each other, the lanky young man held out his hand once more. "I'm Jesse, Jesse Verite" he offered.

Sheila glanced at the hand extended to her. She was still depressed however, and promptly decided she wasn't going to shake his hand in greeting. A harsh nod was all he received for his efforts. Jesse's friendly demeanor quickly left him, replaced by an unexpectedly cold and calculating visage.

Almost as an afterthought, she said "I'm Sheila."

Jesse's smile returned as fast as it had left. "Do you have a last name, Ms. Shelia?" he asked, running a hand through his inch long brown hair.

"Yes." she replied, with more than a little venom. At this he arched back a little, exposing the beginnings of a six-pack as his tight blue sleeveless bunched, and laughed heartily. It caused her to crack a smile, if only slightly. She also stared half a second too long at his newly exposed midriff.

Jesse noticed her wandering eyes and immediately adjusted his shirt in embarrassment. Taking advantage of his minute victory (she smiled, didn't she), he continued. "Feisty one, aren't you?" He chuckled.

She did too. She couldn't help herself. Jesse was simply one of those people with a natural charisma; people just gravitated to him. Sheila had only just met him and she was already beginning to like him. She opened her mouth as if to say something, and then shut it, saying nothing.

"What are you doing in the Burned Tower Cave? You realize that those bats were much stronger than your pokemon." he scolded.

Anger flashed in Sheila's eyes with the reference to her recent defeat. _What a jerk! _"I-" she started, but didn't finish. She was at a loss for words.

_He's right. I shouldn't have even come here._ Guilt flooded through Sheila like waters released from a dam. _Yet another thing I screwed up. _She sat on a nearby rock and sulked.

Jesse realized he hit a nerve with his last comment. He looked down and spoke.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you; it's just that training is a lot more dangerous than people realize." Sheila didn't respond; she merely continued looking away from him. _I just met her and I already pissed her off. Great._

She fought a losing battle against the tears that assaulted her eyes. She didn't want to be rude to the good looking and good natured young man, but she couldn't let him see her in a moment of weakness either. _I'm so pathetic. _As nonchalantly as she could manage, she wiped her eyes and turned to face Jesse. A surprisingly concerned look greeted her. _He must be a genuinely good person to care about somebody he doesn't know. He's a strong trainer too, judging by that battle with the golbat. _She made up her mind about him with that singular gaze; she would befriend him, and hopefully learn the art of pokemon training while doing it.

"Are you ok?" he asked. Red eyes and streaks down her face made it painfully obvious she had just been crying.

"Yes" she hissed in frustration. He didn't look convinced.

"No" she added. Jesse didn't say anything in response, but nodded for her to continue. He knew the best therapy for some things is to just say it, without any interruptions, to a sympathetic ear. Sheila hesitated, but she couldn't say no to his rich, brandy questioning eyes.

"It's just… I'm so bad at training" she explained. "I never thought it would be this hard." A glance in Jesse's direction proved he was paying attention. _And he understands too. _Understanding is exactly what Sheila needed. Encouraged by his positive reaction, she became bolder.

"I started training three weeks ago…" she continued to explain her entire trainer's story. When she told him of her first gym match against Jasmine, he arched an eyebrow and left out a gasp. Defeating the Princess of Steel on the first try (especially as the first gym) was no simple task. She finished her story with her arrival at the Burned Tower, leaving out the footprint trail she and Ranger had followed. The whole time she had concentrated her sight on her feet while Jesse's tanned frame leaned against the cave wall.

"…and to top it all off, I didn't even catch one of those stupid zubats. I just don't think I'm cut out for this sort of thing."

At this, Jesse chuckled again. Sheila's emotionally charged face shot up at him. Raising a pair of rough hands in defense, he explained himself.

"That isn't entirely true;" he said. Before she could ask why, he went on "you dropped this really pretty pokeball" she searched her pockets and came up without the purple and gold ball the old man had given her "and there wasn't anything in it. So I took the liberty of catching you this." Jesse was originally going to keep the fancy ball as well as the pokemon; he was taken over by greed, and a shiny pokemon is very rare. After Sheila's display of emotion though, he didn't feel right about keeping them.

He brought out the royal purple pokeball with a golden lion and released the prince. The deep green bat stood on the ground, wings folded in. His leg structure, not suited to standing on flat surfaces, and his weight distribution, quite top heavy, forced him to lean forward in a constant bow. Sheila gasped audibly when she saw him.

"That's the zubat that made the golbat try to take my head off when he fainted!" The zubat tried to fly but his wings failed him. He was still paralyzed from M-40's electrical attacks. Sheila retrieved a paralyze heal potion from her pocket and hurriedly administered it to the zubat. The bat screeched at first, but quieted down when the healing affects took place.

"There you go, little guy – all better." she cooed at the bat. Her demeanor had completely changed. Where she was depressed, thoughts muddled, and not in a position to do anything productive, she was now calm, collected, and in charge of the situation. She gently stroked the shiny zubat's red under-wing, to which the bat murmured in contentment.

"He was the son of the queen golbat. That's why she freaked out and tried to attack you." Jesse said.

"Oh" she responded ", that makes him a prince, doesn't it?" Turning to the deep green zubat "That's what I'll call you then."

The zubat didn't acknowledge her; the stresses from battle and the gentle massage Sheila gave him caused the bat to sleep in her arms. Jesse recalled the bat and tossed the ball to Sheila, grinning from ear to ear once more. He turned to expose his left side to Sheila, hunching on his knees as he did.

"Iris, not now" Jesse said. He stroked the ninetails behind the ears. He turned back to Sheila, now standing. The ninetails wasn't finished, however. The fire fox bit Jesse's backpack now facing her and pulled back. Jesse stumbled but regained his footing before he fell.

"What is it Iris?" _That ninetails will be the death of me! _Jesse spun on his heels to face Iris again. The fire fox licked her chops and let out a high pitched whine. She darted behind Jesse and pulled on his backpack again on the pouch that contained the food. Taking the hint, Jesse took his backpack off.

"Alright, alright! I'll feed you" he said as he pulled out a bag of high-grade pokechow and a bowl. Iris whined again, shifting on her paws in anticipation.

"Iris, I'm getting your food, be quiet!" Jesse yelled. The ninetails didn't stop whining and shifting until the bowl was on the ground. She dove in happily, quiet for the first time in minutes. Jesse rolled onto his back and sighed deeply in frustration.

Sheila simply sat on her rock, bemused by the whole spectacle, but her face was emotionless. Her earlier depression kicked in full blast. _I don't have that kind of relationship with any of my pokemon._ The next few minutes were held in silence, save for Iris' munching. Sheila glumly avoided Jesse's brandy-eyed glances at all costs. In her mind, she didn't want to appear weak in front of a stranger, however nice he may be.

Iris finished her meal and bounded over to Jesse in two strides, sliding to a stop in front of him. His lanky form still lay stretched out on the ground. Abdominals and biceps bulged as he grunted to sit upright. Iris' reddish-brown eyes scanned him for a moment, centering on his waist. His pokeball belt, a rugged brown that blended into his shorts, only contained two balls. The fire fox pushed at one with her snout, causing the ball belonging to the pokemon named Kirin to drop off the belt, opening it in the process.

Red light filled the small cavern, fading into the form of an ivysaur. A casual observer would take one look at the beautiful flower petals peeking out from its green prison, and remark that this particular ivysaur was close to evolving. The plant pokemon stretched its tough hide and yawned. It had obviously not recovered from previous battles and needed a treatment at a pokecenter. The decorative leaves at the base of the budding flower were torn in places, and several cuts marked the plant pokemon's body. Despite the beat up appearance, it was well groomed and quite healthy, evident by the bright green of the vegetation.

Iris barked a couple orders at the yawning Kirin, eliciting little response. The plant pokemon simply stood still, eyes darting around the cavern, taking in its surroundings. Iris grew impatient; tails swaying behind her, she approached the ivysaur and barked out louder than before.

Jesse shook his head at his pokemon. They were strong battlers, stronger than most opponents they came across, but they were just so … weird.

"You'd better do what she wants Kirin. You know how testy Iris can get when she doesn't get her way."

Kirin's entire body suddenly tensed. Vines whipped out of the base of the flower bud at lightning speed, entangling the hapless Iris, who was too surprised to struggle. Kirin directed his vines to lift the beautiful ninetails (with a sour expression to say the least), and carrying her up, through the hole in the ceiling Sheila and Ranger had dug, and gently released her outside the cave.

He repeated the process for Sheila, taking delight as she squirmed, uncomfortable to the sensation of being suspended by vines. Kirin picked up Jesse in the same manner, panting as he did. Previous battles and the current strain were finally catching up to him. Jesse recalled the plant pokemon with a red beam from his pokeball, which was gratefully received by the ivysaur.

A cool breeze sent a shiver down Sheila's spine as she peered down the hole she was just rescued from. _Well that takes care of one problem._

Jesse and Sheila, both covered in dirt and growing wearing with the setting sun, headed back towards Ecruteak, and the comfort of a warm bed at the pokecenter.

It took them much longer than Sheila expected, due to the fading light. The sparse conversation between her and Jesse was dominated by long gaps of silence and clipped tones from Sheila. Jesse took the hint – she didn't want to talk. The silence proved therapeutic to Sheila.

She doubted herself as a trainer. She knew she wasn't very skilled in the art of pokemon training. Flashes of the recent battle with the zubats only reinforced her inability to train. She pictured the wicked air cutter that buffeted M-40 around like a piece of paper in the wind – and she was resistant to flying attacks! Sheila remembered the brave way Ranger jumped into action, even though he wasn't able to accomplish much. She recalled Emerald's new star attack, swift, flying through the air to meet the golbat queen, and how the bat shrugged it off without much effort.

_But I got something out of it. _Sheila mused. She glanced down at her ragged jeans, towards her belt. Three customized blue and green balls resided, adjacent to a royal purple ball with a golden lion emblazoned on it. _How fitting for Prince to have such a grandiose ball._

Just then, Sheila remembered the old man who had given her the ball. _He was right. This ball did change my life. _She risked a look at the lanky, but defined young man walking next to her. He seemed lost in his own thoughts, staring off into the darkening sky. _I may not be good just yet – _she looked away from Jesse, whipping blonde tresses about her face, and smiled_ – but maybe I can learn._

A/N: How do you like the story? I am kind of pleased with the way this chapter turned out, even if it wasn't what I originally intended.

Iris seems to dominate everyone else, doesn't she? Did anyone notice that there were only two pokeballs on Jesse's belt? Didn't he have an espeon that fought the queen golbat?

These issues will be further explored in the next chapter.

Oh yeah REVIEW! The point of me writing this story is to write something that you guys like. But I don't really know what that is, so please leave me comments, I really could use them!


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